There have been several news reports recently concerning a meta-analysis published by researchers led by Professor Carlo Leifert of Newcastle University. The study investigated ‘differences in composition between organic and non-organic crops/crop-based foods’. Their work suggests that there are ‘statistically significant’ differences between production methods particularly with regard to a range of antioxidants.
Staff here in the CCRI are routinely involved in research related to food – Dan Keech is currently working on an international food supply chain project called ‘GLAMUR‘.
‘The recent report from Newcastle University on the relative nutritional benefits of organic over conventionally-produced food is an interesting new contribution to the debate. CCRI’s recent work within GLAMUR – an EU-funded international research programme on food supply chain performance – found that retailers, sustainability campaigners and consumers can tend to make associations between organic food and the nutritional quality of food. This leads to questions about whether or not organic certification could be a valid indicator of food nutrient standards within some supply chains.’
